too many words by laura lemay

espresso stories

Espresso Stories{.broken_link}: short stories in 25 words or less.

I really like short shorts; I like reading them, I like writing them. But normally a short short is somewhere between 300 and and 1500 words. 25 words is pretty tough. Once you start reading some of the “stories” on this site you’ll quickly figure out that there just isn’t a lot of plot or characterization you can fit into 25 words. You can cram a lot of irony in, though. Lots of budding bumper sticker writers here.

Conceptually, though, 25 words is interesting. I gave it a shot:

Shells

Franklin cracked the walnut, and inside was a world of giant reptiles, epic heroes, and fairy queens. It tasted faintly of nutmeg.

(I got it from Metafilter.)